Education tips regarding field of sensors and data acqusition

Thread Starter

Hiril Patel

Joined Dec 25, 2021
31
Hello Experts at AAC,

I am currently working on a data acqusition thesis for strain gauge and till now I have learned a lot of stuff for example: Programming Mcu, working physics of a a specific sensor, analog circuit design. I am a automotive engineer by base but I am procedding my career in sensor development and data acqusition systems. Hence the stuff I learned during my thesis is also like a shallow knowledge of whats needed to complete my thesis. So I need some advice on what should I learn and master the knowledge on when proceding in field of Sensor developemtn(maybe I will get to use clean room) and sensor DAQ. I have certain idea of what I should be learning but it would be nice if someone can also suggest me a very specific link to start with. That means I would love to clear and rectify my current knowledge on electronics if I am wrong.

I know, this might be a strange request but I want to be as prepared as I can before joining any firm or institute for my career.


Thank you
 

Jerry-Hat-Trick

Joined Aug 31, 2022
545
I want to be as prepared as I can before joining any firm or institute for my career.
I'm not an expert but there are a couple of things I would say. Firstly, there is so much you can learn these days from the internet but it's vital to cross check information from different sources as there is also a lot of mis-information available. You don't have to prove you know everything, just that you know enough to know how and where to look.

For sensors and data acquisition in general it's so important to understand the meaning of the words accuracy, precision, repeatability, linearity, resolution and hysterisis. Strain gauges are a good example - if you are using weighing scales for "weigh counting" you don't care about whether the reading is accurate so long as the scales have very good linearity. High resolution is pointless unless accuracy is high although many users are convinced by more decimal places even though they may be meaningless. When looking for high resolution noise can be a serious problem to overcome, "oversampling" taking the average of a quick succession of measurements can, I believe, be shown mathematically to help achieve meanigful higher resolution.

And for your career, being "hands on" is crucial. You do need to show that you can make circuits that work and that you can choose component values based on ohms law and kirchoff - not just spice... Writing a requirement specification for an engineering requirement is so important - this forum as awash with posts where the requirement is not clearly stated - it's a problem in most walks of life, not just engineering companies. Time spent defining the requirement very often leads to quick and elegant solutions.
 

Thread Starter

Hiril Patel

Joined Dec 25, 2021
31
What type of sensors do you want to work with? Environmental? Biomedical or electrical?

Good question, As of on this topic I haven't decided for specific type but overall I am fascinated with design and development of any kind of sensor based on any physical and electrical working principle. Should I already have selection for what type of sensor I must work on already?
 
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